


Forgotten

by gutsandglitter



Category: Doctor Who
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-09
Updated: 2012-07-09
Packaged: 2017-11-09 12:44:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/455588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gutsandglitter/pseuds/gutsandglitter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She may have forgotten him, but he never forgot her. The Doctor sends River to check up on Donna.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Forgotten

For all his infinite wisdom, the Doctor was still a child in so many ways. No one knew this better than River, though it still continued to disappoint her. 

“Taking time out of our date to visit another woman? You can’t be serious,” she said slowly.

“Am I ever not serious?” the Doctor answered, sonic-ing the lock on her cell. 

“Not-serious is your default setting.”

He stuck his tongue out at her as the door swung wide. She rolled her eyes and strolled out, sashaying her hips as she passed him. The TARDIS door swung shut behind them just as the alarms started to ring.

The Doctor spun around the center controls, showing off for River. She smirked and followed along behind him, correcting his mistakes. After a few moments she couldn’t take it anymore. 

“So this woman. Donna. Were you two…?” she let the question hang in the air, let it mingle with the gentle vworping sounds of the console. 

The Doctor looked up with furrowed brows, clearly clueless as to what she was suggesting. She made a rude hand gesture to clear things up, and his eyebrows shot straight into his fringe. “No!” he cried. “Nothing like that. We, she was my mate.” His voice softened. “My best mate. And I let her down.”

River chewed on her lip. The Doctor seemed to carry the heartaches of millions upon his slim shoulders, she never knew how many he was actually responsible for. 

The TARDIS landed with a small thud. He smiled grimly. “Chiswick. Are you sure you’re okay with this?”

“When you get all waifish and wistful I hardly have a choice in the matter, do I?” She pecked him on the cheek and grabbed the package. “Be back in a mo’.”

It was bright and sunny outside, a welcome respite after nearly a week stuck in prison. River shook her hair out in the sunshine before looking around. She spotted her target, a tall red-haired woman with what seemed like a perpetual scowl on her face storming out of a shop ahead. 

“Plus-size my arse!” she hollered over her shoulder. “You just lost the business of a bleeding lottery-winner, not your best move mate.” 

River snorted as she tried to imagine this woman running around the universe with the Doctor. She hoped their timestreams would cross again, so she could see the Doctor-Donna of legend. Remembering her mission, she strode towards the woman quickly, brushing against her shoulder and causing the other woman to drop her shopping.

“Oi!” Donna cried out indignantly. “Wotcher!”

“Oh goodness me, I am sorry,” River demurred. “Let me help you with that.” She stooped down and grabbed one of the bags, surreptitiously dropping her missive in with its contents. She handed the bag back to its owner, giving a simpering smile in the process. “I’m ever so clumsy today.”

“I noticed,” Donna said dryly, adjusting her purchases. 

“Donna dear, is everything alright? I heard shouting.” A small elderly man came out of a bookstore, clutching a copy of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos. 

“Everything’s fine granddad,” she said with a sigh, turning to look at another window display.

River looked at the man Donna had called her granddad. “Wilfred Mott,” she said with a smile.

He adjusted his glasses. “Sorry, do I know you?”

She shook her head, curls bouncing. “You don’t know me but I know of you. I’m a…let’s just say I’m a friend of a friend.” She gave him a wink.

His eyes widened. “Christ, is everything alright?” he asked, slightly panicked. He glanced up ahead at Donna, who had moved on to a new window display.

She laughed. “Yes, everything’s just fine. Just checking in.”

He nodded, eyes warm with understanding. “Is he…how is he? Are you taking care of him, making sure he stays safe?”

“I’m not a miracle worker,” she said lightly. “But I try my best.”

“Good, good.” His eyes shone with tears. “He’s told you about her, hasn’t he? She was the most important girl in existence. Still is, mind you.”

She swallowed. “Yes, he’s told me all about her,” she lied, though she made a mental note to squeeze every detail out of him when she got back. “I probably get to meet her, back then, someday.”

Most people would be confused by a statement like this, but not Wilfred. He understood perfectly. “You’d like her. She was so good with him, hasn’t been the same since.”

“He does that, brings out the best in people,” River said sentimentally. _And the worst_ , she added in her head. There was a pause.

“Well, I better get going. For a time-traveller he can be awfully impatient,” River remarked. “Take care of yourself Wilf.” She kissed him on his damp cheek and turned on heel so that he would not see her cry. 

***

“Everything go alright?” the Doctor asked, trying to sound nonchalant.  
River nodded tightly. She stood at the doorway for a moment, unable to make eye contact with him. Finally she looked up at him, catching his eye before crossing the room and burying herself in his arms.

“Please don’t ever leave me like that,” she sobbed, voice muffled by his tweed jacket. “I don’t care how this all ends, just don’t let it be like that. Promise me.”

The Doctor stood stock still, arms hanging limply at his sides. 

_You watch us run Doctor._

“I promise.”

***

 

That evening as Donna sorted through her purchases, she found a small book tucked into the folds of her new peacoat. 

“Death in the Clouds?” she asked. “Agatha Christie. Granddad, is this yours?” 

He shook his head no. She shrugged. “Not mine, I hate mysteries.”

Still, she found herself putting the book in the drawer of her nightstand where it would remain for the next forty years, until the day she died. She never noticed the fact it had been published in the year five billion.


End file.
